Definitions

1.             According to Oswalt, a nerd or geek is typically an adolescent male who immerses himself in science fiction and pop culture. His interests usually include “post-punk music, comic books, slasher films, and video games.” Unlike other teenage boys, he had no aptitude for sports nor for getting girls. In Japan, people of a similar classification are referred to as otaku. Meaning “someone else’s house,” Oswalt defines otaku as “people who have obsessive, minute interests – especially stuff like anime or videogames.” In relation to the rest of the society, the geeks, nerds, and otaku, are somewhat outcasts. They have their own clique, which they consider exclusive. While “everyone else” vied for popularity, normality, and the all-important ability to “fit in,” the geeks thrived on being different, even mysterious.

            Now, however, what was once different, mysterious, unknown, and edgy, is now the norm. According to Oswalt, geek culture is dead. This is his reason for defining geek in the first place, to explain what it once was, and the meaning it used to have. The things that used to define them, have now become mainstream. Popularization of your “culture” cannot exist when the founding principles of your clique require you to be different and stray from “the herd.” Nerdery has been stripped of its most important feature: its “differentness.” In order to regain their status, geeks must find new ways to stray from what is considered the norm.

2.          In supermarkets today, even the not-so high end ones like GIANT and Redner’s, it is impossible to escape the “organic movement.” Soy chips, organic tomatoes, and Kashi frozen dinners line the shelves and beckon you to take a more “wholesome, natural” approach to dining. The organic food market has become a lucrative industry. According to Michael Pollan, it even has its own literary form: Supermarket Pastoral. The description on a box of Nature’s Promise cookies or bottle of Kombucha juice has become a literary style all its own. Your typical American shopper picks up one of these products, usually in earth-tone colored packaging with a picture of an idealistic farm, reads the description about the organic granola bars that “are made with only 5 simple ingredients, no preservatives, and no high fructose corn syrup,” and feels reassured that he or she has selected food that is more wholesome, nourishing, and uncorrupted by industrial hands. And the premium price? Well worth the investment.

            But all of those who believe in the organic way, have really just bought into yet another brilliant marketing scheme, and I do mean BRILLIANT. The truth about processed foods and Tastycakes with enough preservatives to make them last ten years, has been exposed. The American population has decided to take a stand against the industry-tainted crap it calls food. This is where the lure of “natural, free range, hormone/steroid free” food becomes extremely enticing. People wish to rid themselves of the evils of industry, and instead support food that, as Pollan puts it, combines the best of the modern world and the natural world. It is surely a novel, admirable concept. However, it is a delusion. The organic strawberries that we think come from a quaint, mom and pop farm have their real origins in the farms of “corporate organic growers.” The increasing “industrialization of the organic food industry” is an oxymoron, and an ingenious plot for organic food producers to have it all.